Barn: encapsulated, almost... The builders installed the rest of the house wrap and all of the windows today. The only unprotected hole in the building now is the large opening where an 18' wide, 9' high roll-up door will go. That door should be installed early next week. Also next week: the entire first floor will be insulated. The ceiling will be R50 blown-in fiberglass; the walls a bit lower R factor (probably around R35), also blown in. To blow fiberglass into the walls and ceiling, they first cover them with a fine netting to contain the fibers, then blow it into the resulting cavity. The blow-in insulation is superior to the conventional bats because it fills every nook and cranny...

My new friend Carl... He and I did some serious bonding over the lunch hour today. The masons ran off to do some errands, and left Carl tied up to one of our pine trees. I took a Milk Bone and a bowl of water out to him, then sat and played with him for a half hour until the masons came back. We both felt better afterwards :)

Fireplace progress... The masons were here all day today putting in the hearth for the fireplace. First there was a layer of brick support, then a thin strip of stone across the face, and finally the “floor” part of the hearth. That last bit included a lot more puzzle-piece solving than the facade did, mainly because the pieces of hearth stone were more angular, and varied more in size.

As yesterday, these photos are in time order. The last one shows the completed stonework. All that remains is cleanup and sealing, which will happen Monday afternoon...

How aerodynamic lift actually works in a wing...The clearest non-technical, no-math explanation I've ever seen for this phenomenon. Most people who believe how airplane wings work actually don't – not because they're dummies, but because nearly every textbook and teacher has taught them a fiction. Usually it's something like what's at right...

Corruption, American-style... Here's a great example of the sort of corruption that pervades American politics. We don't suffer from the kinds of corruption that are rampant in Russia, India, China, and the Middle East – but we have it nonetheless. There are many examples besides car dealers – cable companies, many professions that require licenses, etc. All of these have common characteristics: they protect the incumbents at the expense of consumers. All also assiduously avoid the sunlight: they don't want consumers to understand how they're being bilked – because, naturally, that would end the happy days of free money for them.

Tesla is doing a public service by exposing the corrupt crony capitalism in the states where its running into this sort of thing. It's not motivated by altruism on their part, of course, but it's a public service nonetheless...